I would like better handling....

[SVT F15O]

Well here are my goals:
First of it is an 87' GN, has 48,000 miles so it is a pretty tight car from the start and handles decent for a 80's G-body.
I want it to handle better, I want to be surprised when I throw it in to a turn. Is that possible>??? Can I make it handle like my old 01' Z06>???
I was thinking on purchasing the Edelbrok 5296 kit: Edelbrock Total Handling Suspension Kits: EDL-5296 - summitracing.com
Then maybe doing sway bars as well(which ones, I don't know).
Also was thinking on poly bushings in the front control arms, maybe tubular arms>???
If I can get better 60ft's out of a combo and better handling that would be the best. Car is built to run fast and has gone 10.35 with a 1.55 60ft.
Advise please! Thanks, -Mat-

 

[unix_punk]

Sweet6 on here swears by his HRParts rear sway bar, says it corners great with that. Maybe he'll jump on and be able to tell you more.

 

[at7we2]

I've run the complete Hotchkiss setup on an '86 Monte SS. It was unbelieveable IMO. I believe the Edelbrock setup is similar - although I'm only saything that because of the pictures and description in the Summit catalog.

I'm sure the Buick vendors sell some top quality suspension parts. They may be even better than the Hotchkiss or Edelbrock parts, but I have no experience with them.

This may be a given, but the biggest improvements in handling would be achieved from:

-lower center of gravity (lowering spindels and springs)
-stiffer shocks/springs
-stiffer bushings
-larger diameter wheels and tires (lower profile tires)
-more rigid suspension parts - sway bars, A-arms, trailing arms.

Good luck getting it to handle like a Z06, though, the stock Buick fenderwells are not big enough for enough tire for Z06 skidpad numbers.

that was probably no help at all.

I had to post though, since I'm also interested in improving the handling of my GN. I'm not really interested in a drag race suspension setup. I'd like a road-race setup :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

 

[sailbrd]

One: Stiffen the chassis and body every place you can. The only two good parts off the Edelbrock kit are the rear upper control arms and the brace that connects the upper and lower control arms. Make sure you have all of the body bushings and the body braces from someplace like Kirbans. The rear X braces behind the seat is most important. If you can, box the frame rails.

Two: DO NOT use poly bushings. Sometime hard to do. The Edelbrock upper control arms have poly at the axle but spherical at the frame. You want the spherical bushings at the frame on the rear axle. Use Currie lower control arms. Again you have spherical at the frame. I think the system will work best with replacing the poly with rubber bushings. This system works good with the poly but even less bind with rubber.

Front end. Go to Global West and go with their upper control arms, springs, and Koni shocks. I use rubber in the front also on my GSX. With a GN use their bushings but expect a little harshness. The most important thing here is to be able to get more caster and negative camber in the front end geometry. It is just about impossible to get to much caster. Six degrees is good. You want to run half a degree negative camber.

Hotchkis has pretty good front sway bars. Use poly bushing for bar. The rest of their stuff is not that great. On the subject of sway bars. Global West says no rear bar and we never ran them on oval track cars. I also know that really good suspension engineers (Herb Adams) used big bars on the back. I would like to setup a HR style bar but make it adjustable.

Use seventeen inch wheels and do not go nuts on low profile tires. You cannot get the camber curves of older suspensions to work well with super stiff wide wheel and tire combinations.

On the other hand a perfect stock setup with high quality rubber bushings, seventeen inch wheels, good tires, good shocks, with body bushings and the seat brace will be a very good car. I think trying to get these cars to handle like a new Vette just requires too many modifications and compromises the overall driveability. The Currie lower, Edelbrock upper setup on the back works very well with no negatives.